My predictions going into this were that Ortmayer and Skog would come in 1st and 2nd, by a long way – so let’s see how that prediction turned out.

First event was the Medley which saw Johannes Arsjo come in first, narrowly beating England’s Laurence Shahlaei who put in a great performance to come 2nd. I have to admit that during last year’s heats I wasn’t that impressed with Laurence and was probably overly harsh. He said in an interview with Zoe Salmon after the Medley that he had come back a lot stronger this year and so far he was proving that to be correct.

Zoe Salmon interviews Laurence Shahlaei

Despite suffering from flu, something that they mentioned on the programme and he confirmed to me himself, Travis Ortmayer finished in 3rd with Skog, Smit and Kazelniks finishing 4tf to 6th respectively.

Laurence Shahlaei pulling a truck!

Yes that is another photo of Laurence Shahlaei, this time in the truck pull….which he won! yes, the man who I disregarded last year had just picked up 11 points from the first 2 events. In this case he beat Richard Skog into 2nd and Travis Ortmayer into 3rd, again. Arsjo came 4th, Kazelniks 5th and Smit 6th.

With this amazing show of strength Shahlaei was 2 points clear of Arsjo in 2nd, with Ortmayer and Skog in 3rd with 8, and Kazelniks and Smit in 5th with 3 points each. An impressive start for the Englishman, in only his 2nd World’s Strongest man, but could he continue this awesome pace?

The simple answer to that is yes, and then some. Shahlaei was the only one to complete all 7 reps in the Squat Lift to take home maximum points again. This was looking like a performance of domination to rival Derek Poundstone in Heat 1! Smit, Kazelniks and Arsjo trailed in 2nd with 6 reps, Skog 5th with 4 lifts and a flu riddled Ortmayer languished in last place with just 2 lifts.

Laurence Shahlaei the Super Squatter!

While Shahlaei was having an amazing heat, the brightest prospect in World’s Strongest Man, Travis Ortmayer, was looking to be on the way to missing out on a place in the final.

The 4th event is one that usually sorts the men from the boys, though none of these guys would ever be classed as boys! Guess what? Yup, Laurence Shahlaei won again! This was as good a performance as I’d seen by anyone in any of the heats – the new standard bearer for UK World’s Strongest Man was making himself known and his name is Laurence Shahlaei. Ettiene Smit was just over a second behind in 2nd place with Travis Ortmayer getting another 3rd place, ahead of Kazelniks in 4th, Skog in 5th and Arsjo in 6th. All 6 completed the course in under 35 seconds with Shahlaei needing only 21.87 seconds, a very fast time by anyone’s standards.

The Car Walk

After just 4 events Laurence Shahlaei had 23 points and had qualified for the final! Arsjo, Ortmayer and Smit all had 13 points and Skog had 12. With Kazelniks on 10 points anyone of the other 5 athletes had a chance of grabbing that 2nd qualifying place.

Disaster struck in the Keg Toss as Travis Ortmayer hit a wall at 6 kegs, in an event where he usually excels. this was only enough to get him another 3rd place, while Etienne Smit won and was the only guy to get all 8 kegs over the bar. Arsjo came in 2nd, Kazelniks and Skog in 4th with 4 and last was Shahlaei who having already qualified didn’t exert himself too much, wisely.

Weeeeee!

Going into the last event Smit was on 19 points, Arsjo on 18 and Ortmayer on 17. Ortmayer, known as the Texas Stoneman, lived up to that name by winning his favourite event. It was to be his day as Etienne Smit struggled and could only manage 3 stones to finish in 6th place. Skog in 2nd and Arsjo in 3rd with 4 stones each, Kazelniks in 4th with 4 stones and even Shahlaei threw 3 stones up to finish in 5th.

Ortmayer WINS!

Ortmayer got that 2nd qualifying place at the last moment. Hopefully he’ll have recovered from his flu by the time the final comes around and his full potential can be reached. Massive congratulations to Laurence Shahlaei who was a class apart from the rest of the field on the day and did himsef and England proud – onto the finals! the placings for this 4th heat finished as follows:

Shahlaei and Ortmayer Qualify!

the 5th and final heat is on Bravo TV next Monday and features ‘Big’ Terry Hollands, the 3rd place Strongman at World’s Strongest Man 2007.